Track and Field Hosts First Meet in Two Years with Saturday’s Big Dawg Invitational

BALTIMORE – Two years after the
America East Championships came to Baltimore, and ten years since
this meet's latest incarnation, the UMBC Big Dawg Invitational will
be held at UMBC Stadium on Saturday with the hammer, javelin, high
jump, long jump, and pole vault competitions kicking things off at
10:00 a.m.

The UMBC track and field teams last hosted the Big Dawg
Invitational on Mar. 22, 2003 with ten schools coming to
Baltimore. This time around the Retrievers welcome Bowie
State, Bucknell, Coppin State, Howard Community College, Lincoln
(Pa.), and Morgan State to campus for the meet.

The Big Dawg Invitational will be streamed live on
UMBCRetrievers.tv, beginning at 11:00 a.m. with the 4x100 relay
race, and will include multiple camera angles and live
commentary.

After an elite group of Retriever athletes started the spring
season at the Florida State Relays in Tallahassee, Fla. last
weekend, the Big Dawg Invitational serves as the opener for the
team as a whole.

Last weekend, the Retrievers were headlined by a trio of field
athletes whom registered record-breaking performances in the
Sunshine State. On the first day of the meet,
freshman Vincent
Rentzsch (Oranienburg, Germany) broke the UMBC school
record and finished third in the javelin competition with a toss of
58.83m (193'00"). His throw qualifies him for the IC4A
meet which will be held at Princeton in May.

Also on the first day, but in the hammer throw, senior Amanda Deller (Aberdeen, Md./Aberdeen) and
sophomore Thor
Serafenas (Olney, Md./Good Counsel/Clemson) set new
personal-bests, moving up to second and third all-time, in their
respective school ranks.

All of the throwers will compete in the discus event this
weekend, while each athlete will also take part in his or her top
competition.

Named the America East Most Outstanding Track Athlete at the
indoor championships in February, senior Dennison
Long (Greenbelt, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt/FIU) leads a deep
group of sprinters. Long won both the 60m and 100m dash
events at the conference meet, and began his outdoor campaign by
finishing the 11th in the 200m dash at FSU with a personal-best
time of 21.80. Juniors Pat
Balderson (Mount Airy, Md./Linganore) and Dosu
Teyibo (Silver Spring, Md./Barrie), both of whom made the
60m finals indoors, look to provide more depth as the Retrievers
head outside.

Senior Trae
Proctor (Brandywine, Md./Thomas Stone) won the 60m hurdles
in Boston for the third straight year and now looks to recapture
his outdoor title after not competing a year ago in Maine.

The women's group of sprinters looks to be even deeper,
supporting Second Team All-American Mercedes Jackson (Huntingtown,
Md./Huntingtown). Jackson took 13th at the NCAA
Championships in the 60m dash after winning the event, in addition
to the 100m dash, at the conference meet. The sophomore
is the school record holder in the 100m and 200m dash events
outdoors.

Junior Kirsten Jones (Brentwood, Tenn./M.L.K.
Magnet) finished the indoor season with a flourish and opened the
spring last weekend in Tallahassee. After claiming the
school record in the 400m dash at the ECAC championships, and
anchoring the 4x400 relay team to a new mark, Jones looks to
improve on her standing outside in the 200m (4th) and 400m
(2nd).

The distance group will be out in full force this weekend with
many athletes making their first appearance in competition since
the cross country season. Junior Vinny
DiSalvo (Washingtonville, N.Y./Washingtonville) will open
in the day's first track event, the 3,000m steeplechase, and will
be joined by freshmen Redatu
Semeon (Waldorf, Md./Thomas Stone) and Austin
Hayslett (Mount Airy,
Md./Urbana). Junior Tom
Eldridge (Rocky River, Ohio/Rocky River) and Brandan
McGee (Hiram, Ohio/Crestwood) will make their season
debuts in the 5,000m. McGee earned All-Conference status
during the cross country season for finishing seventh at the
America East meet, and competed at last year's NCAA East
Preliminary in the 3,000m steeplechase.

For the women, 800m specialists Sarah
Daly (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) and Cody
Mezebish (Westminster, Md./South Carroll) will take part
in the 400m dash while sophomore Mary Katherine Kulp (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) will run
in the 400m hurdles.